Verdict: Capital Health must pay $6M for medical malpractice that killed Trenton mom, 20

TRENTON >> Capital Health lost a medical malpractice lawsuit on Tuesday when a civil trial by jury ordered the health system to pay over $6 million in damages to the estate of a Trenton woman who died as a direct result of paramedic misconduct.

A week after giving birth to a premature baby, 20-year-old Toniquea Rivers collapsed at her parents’ home and received an ambulance transport by Capital Health paramedics who failed to properly intubate her on Feb. 3, 2012. She was taken to Saint Francis Medical Center, where she died after hospital staff discovered the endotracheal tube had been incorrectly placed, according to the civil action complaint that was filed in Mercer County Superior Court on Jan. 29, 2014.

The civil litigation went to a trial by jury this month, and the jurors on Tuesday decided 7-1 that Capital Health failed to act in good faith and must pay over $4 million in damages to the estate of Toniquea Rivers and $2 million to compensate her surviving 5-year-old child, Zion Mikel Howlen Rivers.

“Obviously we were happy with the verdict,” said attorney Joshua Van Naarden, who tried the case on behalf of Toniquea Rivers’ estate. “It represents what I believe to be the only verdict against an advanced life support paramedic in the state of New Jersey.”

Read more: http://www.trentonian.com/health/20170927/verdict-capital-health-must-pay-6m-for-medical-malpractice-that-killed-trenton-mom-20